Tag: native americans

The Left’s ‘stolen-land’ rhetoric threatens private property

Left-wing “land acknowlegements” could be having real-world consequences for property owners in Canada. And the United States may be next.

It began as a polite ritual. Before meetings or ceremonies, institutions began acknowledging that their buildings sit on land once inhabited by Indigenous peoples: “We recognize this is the unceded territory of the [tribe name].” The practice, with roots in Australia as far back as the 1970s, was picked up in Canada following the 2015 Truth and Reconciliation Commission report and moved quickly from Canada to left-leaning universities, city councils and churches in the 2020s. Many saw it as a mere courtesy. But beneath the symbolism lies deeper political movement that could erode the very foundation of private property.

In Canada, that shift is already underway. A British Columbia Supreme Court ruling this year suggested that even privately owned, fee-simple land might rest on “defective and invalid” title if an Aboriginal title still exists. For a nation built on English common-law property rights, that’s quite a statement. As columnist Kevin Klein warns in the Winnipeg Sun, Ottawa’s silence on the issue is turning Crown land — once considered secure — into “conditional land.” If the Crown’s title is conditional, how long before yours is?

Land acknowledgements may sound harmless, but they prepare the rhetorical ground for these legal arguments. Once governments, universities, and corporations declare publicly that their property sits on “stolen land,” they’ve already accepted the premise that they don’t actually own it. Activists then insist that recognition demands restitution — and suddenly the issue moves from ceremony to court.

That’s what’s happening in Canada, where some judges now treat Indigenous land claims as concurrent with existing titles. For investors, homeowners, and farmers alike, that’s a recipe for uncertainty — and eventually, seizure of land.

The Left insists this is “reconciliation,” not revolution. But the outcome is the same. Private property rights are fundamental to Western liberty. If property is always subject to retroactive moral judgments or undefined shared stewardship, ownership loses to temporary permission.

In the United States, land acknowledgements have also run rapid, typically in the same academic and bureaucratic circles that look askance at capitalism and private property.

None of this means ignoring history or dismissing past injustices, just refusing to let symbolic guilt erode the legal system. Reconciliation should not come at the cost of the rule of law. Governments must make clear that while we honor history, property rights remain absolute under modern law.

The growing unease north of the border is a warning to America: beware the moral language that undermines legal foundations. Today’s “land acknowledgement” may be tomorrow’s title challenge. And once you concede the premise that your land isn’t really yours, it may not be for long.

Keep reading

B.C. Supreme Court approves Indigenous ownership of Haida Gwaii

The B.C. Supreme Court has officially recognized the Haida Nation’s aboriginal title to the Haida Gwaii islands, excluding public infrastructure and private land, reported the Epoch Times. This decision affirmed an April 2024 agreement between the Haida Nation, B.C., and Canada.

On April 14, 2024, the Haida Nation and B.C. signed the “Rising Tide” Haida Title Lands Agreement, supported by a 95% vote from Haida Gwaii residents on April 6.

The agreement was unanimously backed by all present in the B.C. legislature on April 29, received royal assent on May 16, and was supported by the federal government.

“Today Haida ancestors are dancing in celebration that the discrimination they endured in our colonial past is now behind us,” Haida Nation wrote in celebration.

“… the governments of the Haida Nation, Canada and British Columbia are forging a new path where we can foster the jurisdictional space for Haida laws to grow and deepen, without conflict, and based on respect.” 

Keep reading

‘Ecological grief’: Ottawa rolls out new buzzword for latest cash grab

Blacklock’s Reporter has uncovered a new federal buzzword: “ecological grief.” According to a Department of Indigenous Services audit, climate change is apparently causing so much heartache in First Nations communities that Ottawa needs more cash for counselling.

Yes, grief counselling. For the weather.

The report claims climate change is disrupting hunting, fishing, and trapping, which it calls “critical pathways to mental health.” It even blames forest fires for creating “perpetual experiences of stress and ecological grief.”

Cabinet has already budgeted nearly $1.6 billion since 2021 for a “Mental Wellness Program.” But auditors found the money wasn’t enough, the demand keeps growing, and record-keeping was so sloppy they couldn’t even figure out where the cash went. Their own warning? Lack of accountability, lack of transparency, and a higher risk of total waste.

And still, the department’s answer is predictable: expect more funding.

Keep reading

Family of Tribal Chief Who Inspired Washington Redskins Logo Thanks Trump, Urges Team to Restore It

The family of the Native American tribal chief who inspired the former Washington Redskins logo is calling on the team to bring back the image, describing it as a matter of respect and historical accuracy, as reported by The Blaze.

Thomas White Calf, the nephew of the late Chief Two Guns White Calf of the Blackfeet tribe, wrote a letter demanding the franchise restore both the name and logo that activists pressured the team to drop in 2020.

The Redskins name and logo were abandoned in July of that year, replaced temporarily by the “Washington Football Team” before the franchise adopted the “Washington Commanders” identity in 2022.

“White Calf defended tribal traditions in our Blackfeet homeland in Montana, where many of us still live today,” Thomas wrote in a letter obtained by the New York Post.

“He went to Washington, D.C., where he forced the U.S. government to honor Indian treaties. He served as a model for the U.S. Mint’s famous 1913 ‘Indian head’ nickel. White Calf’s face is still a collector’s item.”

Keep reading

Parks Canada quietly backtracks on ‘genocide’ claims against Manitoba residential school

The Government of Canada quietly dropped references to “genocide” regarding Indigenous residential schools in their latest statement after gaslighting Canadians for years.

According to an August 12 press release, Parks Canada, run by the Liberal government, discreetly removed all reference to “genocide” in its latest historic site designation of an Indian Residential School at Manitoba’s Portage la Prairie Residential School.

“Built in 1914-1915, the former Portage La Prairie Indian Residential School functioned within the residential school system whereby the federal government and certain churches and religious organizations worked together to assimilate Indigenous children as part of a broad set of efforts to destroy Indigenous cultures and identities and suppress Indigenous histories,” the press release read.

“The building has been given new meaning by the community as a site of commemoration and resilience that keeps the legacy of the residential school era alive and educates the public,” it continued.

This commemoration is a stark contrast to a February press release in which Parks Canada referred to the residential school system as a “cultural genocide.”

The current lack of reference to genocide marks a distinct shift in the Liberal government’s representation of the residential school system. For years, Liberals have clung to the story that Indigenous children were mass murdered and secretly buried in the schools despite the claims lacking substantial proof.

In 2021, the mainstream media began promoting inflammatory and dubious claims that hundreds of children were buried and disregarded by Catholic priests and nuns who ran once-mandatory residential schools.

Canada’s Residential School system was a structure of boarding schools funded by the Canadian government and run by both the Catholic Church and other churches that ran from the late 19th century until the last school closed in 1996.

While some children did tragically die at the boarding schools, evidence has revealed that many of the children passed away as a result of unsanitary conditions due to underfunding by the federal government, not the Catholic Church.

To date, there have been no mass graves discovered at residential schools. However, following claims blaming the deaths on the Catholic clergy who ran the schools, over 100 churches have been burned or vandalized across Canada in seeming retribution.

Keep reading

B.C. Supreme Court recognizes Aboriginal title over most of Richmond

The British Columbia Supreme Court quietly issued its long-awaited decision in Cowichan Tribes v. Canada on Thursday.

In a decision that is sure to ruffle feathers, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Barbara Young declared the Cowichan Tribes have established Aboriginal title to roughly 800 acres in Richmond.

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has recognized the Cowichan Nation’s Aboriginal title to parts of Lulu Island and the Fraser River’s south arm, concluding a five-year, 513-day trial — described as the longest in Canadian history.

The plaintiffs, including five tribes and several individuals, sought declarations of Aboriginal title over approximately 1,846 acres on Lulu Island, which now forms part of Richmond, home to B.C.’s largest airport.

“I agree that Aboriginal title is a prior and senior right to land,” Young writes in the ruling.

“The question of what remains of Aboriginal title after the granting of fee simple title to the same lands should be reversed. The proper question is: what remains of fee simple title after Aboriginal title is recognized in the same lands?”

Six defendants opposed the claim: the federal and provincial governments, the Vancouver Fraser Port Authority, the City of Richmond, and two other First Nations groups.

The 863-page judgment will have wide-reaching legal implications.

The court confirmed the Cowichan Nation has legal ownership, known as Aboriginal title, over specific lands on Lulu Island and parts of the Fraser River’s south arm.

The court found that when the government issued private land ownership (fee simple) and transferred certain highway lands in Cowichan territory, it wrongly interfered with the Cowichan Nation’s Aboriginal title.

Subsequently, except for lands tied to the Vancouver Airport Fuel Delivery Project, the court ruled that land titles held by Canada and the City of Richmond in Cowichan territory are legally flawed and invalid.

It instructs the federal government to negotiate a fair agreement with the Cowichan Nation that respects their Aboriginal title.

The provincial government must also negotiate “in good faith” with the Cowichan Nation to resolve conflicts over private land titles and highway lands in their territory, ensuring the process honours the Crown’s duty to act fairly.

The judgment is likely to be appealed given its potentially broad implications, but the immediate effect is the legal recognition of Cowichan title over specific lands.

Keep reading

Nuking The Redskins’ Name Did Nothing To Help American Indians, And Nobody’s Surprised

Rumor’s out that the owners of the Washington Commanders are feeling the heat to reverse the 2020 decision by former owner Daniel Snyder to drop the team’s beloved Redskins name.

The reason? President Donald Trump’s recent threats regarding the team’s $3.7 billion plan to return the team’s stadium to the District of Columbia from its decades-long sojourn in Maryland. “I may put a restriction on them that if they don’t change the name back to the original ‘Washington Redskins,’ and get rid of the ridiculous moniker, ‘Washington Commanders,’” Trump posted, “I won’t make a deal for them to build a Stadium in Washington.”

Certainly, this lifelong Redskins fan wouldn’t mind Trump fighting on behalf of the fanbase of a storied franchise who still feels betrayed by a decision that had more to do with woke mob outrage in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death than with the purported social justice reasons given for why the team needed to alter its name and mascot.

“Redskins is racist,” asserted pundits across left-wing corporate media, a claim that finally gained traction when American corporations kowtowed to every woke activist in 2020 by claiming they would take whatever steps would appease the mob and its accusatory chants of “systemic racism.” Yet five years on, one might ask, what has the name change actually accomplished?

Keep reading

Meet the Indian Slugger Liberals Insulted When They Forced the Cleveland Indians to Be Renamed

When the Cleveland Indians changed their name to the “Guardians” in 2021, it was supposed to be progress.

But for many Native Americans like me, it felt like something else entirely: being canceled.

On the Sunday of this past week, President Donald Trump stood up for us when he called on the team in Ohio to bring back its iconic name.

“Cleveland should do the same with the Cleveland Indians,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after calling for the Washington Redskins name to also be restored. “The Owner of the Cleveland Baseball Team, Matt Dolan, who is very political, has lost three Elections in a row because of that ridiculous name change. What he doesn’t understand is that if he changed the name back to the Cleveland Indians, he might actually win an Election.”

“Indians are being treated very unfairly,” Trump added. “MAKE INDIANS GREAT AGAIN (MIGA)!”

The original name wasn’t just a catchy title. It actually had meaning.

It was linked to Louis Sockalexis, a Native American outfielder who played for the then-Cleveland Spiders in the late 1890s.

Sockalexis, a member of the Penobscot Nation, was the first Native American widely recognized in professional baseball. In 1897, he hit .338 with an .845 OPS in 66 games, according to MLB.com.

Keep reading

7,000-year-old Village Sites Reveal Thriving Life on Remote Alaskan Island

Archaeological discoveries on Shuyak Island in Alaska’s Kodiak Archipelago have unveiled a remarkable chapter in Native American history, with the identification of what may be the island’s oldest known settlement dating back approximately 7,000 years.

The groundbreaking findings, announced by the Alutiiq Museum’s archaeology team, have dramatically expanded our understanding of ancient Indigenous settlement patterns across Alaska’s rugged coastal landscape. Led by Patrick Saltonstall, the museum’s curator of archaeology, the multi-year survey has uncovered dozens of previously undocumented village sites, particularly on the island’s lesser-studied eastern shores, reports Alaska Public Media.

Shuyak Island, known in the Alutiiq language as Suu’aq meaning “rising out of the water,” has long been considered sparsely populated throughout its history. Today, the island is largely encompassed by Shuyak Island State Park, attracting kayakers and wildlife enthusiasts to its pristine wilderness. However, the recent archaeological evidence tells a different story.

“Shuyak Island has always sort of been a place where I think it seems like there were fewer people up there,” Saltonstall explained. “But finding that, you know what your preconceptions are and what you actually find often don’t match” reported Archaeology Magazine.

The survey identified one remarkable village site featuring 11 house pits that researchers believe housed between 200 and 300 people approximately 300 years ago. Even more surprising was the discovery of the 7,000-year-old settlement, which represents the earliest evidence of human habitation ever found on the island.

Keep reading

New Cal State policy bans professors from showing Native American artifacts in class

The California State University system has rolled out a new policy that prohibits professors from using Native American “cultural items” in class – unless they obtain permission from the tribe.

The policy, announced last week, drew criticism from a California anthropologist who described it as an “attack” on the preservation of knowledge. However, a campus free speech attorney praised CSU for dropping a section of the policy that restricted free speech.

The 23-campus system has been working on the revised policy for several years in connection to the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, or NAGPRA, and California’s state version. The laws require government and public entities to restore human remains and “cultural items” to their direct descendants.

The policy, published July 1, outlines the method by which universities must identify and repatriate these items to Native American tribes.

“All CSU campuses must implement processes that ensure timely, lawful repatriation of Human Remains and Cultural Items, including respectful treatment and handling while in CSU custody,” the policy states.

It also requires campuses to “respect Native American traditional knowledge and cultural protocols, ensuring that no decisions are made without meaningful Tribal consultation.”

Keep reading